is a weekly meme about books and reading, hosted by Deb. This week the prompt was longer than usual – please read it all at BTT. I quote only part of her post here, leading up to the questions at the end:
--- In my daily life, it seems like almost no-one reads anything more than a newspaper or a fashion magazine. I only have one person I can truly chat about books with --- I love following an intricately plotted story (the more layers the better). --- Can you imagine NOT being a Reader? How does it shape your life? Your perception of it? How does being a Reader affect your relationship with all those folks who are looking at it from the other side and simply can’t understand how you can sit and READ all the time? ---
I would indeed find life a lot poorer if I could not take part of “plotted stories” in between all the fragmented pieces of news and gossip that wash over us daily.
My social life is not what it was, as I neither work now nor “hang out” with as many people in other contexts either, as I used to… On the other hand, in recent years I’ve come to count certain internet friends as part of my daily life, and some of you do read a lot!
So, thinking about it, I come to the conclusion – somewhat surprising to myself – that I don’t really share Deb’s experience of being surrounded by non-readers. I still often feel like there’s no one to discuss a recently read book with… But really, that’s often more about not being in sync than about the people in my life not being bookish at all.
Then I tried to think if I know someone who reads fashion magazines, and found I have no idea. If they do, they don’t talk about it with me!
I’ve always been a reader even if sometimes more and sometimes less. After I got problems with neckpain after an accident I had to change my reading habits physically but I still had a need of “stories”. So I listened more to audio books instead.
As for relating to “those folks who are looking at it from the other side”… 4½ years ago when I moved to where I now live, I hired help from a removal company, to both pack and carry. I packed some personal things like clothes etc myself, but left books and china to the removers. When they arrived, one of them went for a look around before they started. Then he came out to me in the kitchen, and said: “That’s a lot of books. Have you read all of them?” I said yes, most of them. The he said: “When you’ve read them, why don’t you throw them away?”
Now that’s a kind of question that leaves me lost for words… I do see the need of a clear-out now and then; but from there to treating books like newspapers … No. I really can’t imagine my home void of books!
The only books I throw out are the ones I call trashy books, bought them and didn't realize they were trashy books, so when I get to the parts that I hate, the books go in the trash, and I never finish reading them. Now that I can visit book bloggers and read reviews about different books, I don't end up with trashy books as often.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to hear about your accident. But if you like listening to audio books that hits the spot. Sometimes when I get in a funky mood, I listen to books rather than read. They do come in handy at times.
Thanks for the visit today.
Throw away books?!O_o Oh noo! I might pass books on to somebody else to read but never through away. That's crazy. I read magazines in between books. I just love to read.:)
ReplyDeleteyou are a book lover and a reader. I am a reader and love reading and losing myself in the story, I have done that since i learned to read. the difference is I like the story not the book and have only books like a few Bibles and dictionary's. I don't throw the books away but I do get rid of them after i read them. the library fixed that, and now the kindle. when i was buying books to read, i traded them and bought used books, read them and traded them again.
ReplyDeletethe difference is I think, you like cards don't you? and mail? and old letters and old postcards. i keep nothing but what i use daily, or almost nothing. i think there are more like you than like me. and i don't know anyone who reads fashion magazines or other magazines except my hubby who does not read anything BUT his hot rod and air plane magazines. i am just thankful we are all different and all happy with the way we are. my dad never understood how mother an i could read for hours while he and my brother were fishing... we sat on the bank with a book....he thought something was wrong with us that we did not like to fish and liked to read....
OMG! I cringe at the comment the removers made about throwing books out after you've read them! Sometimes I give some away, but I can't imagine (nor can any bookish people I know) actually tossing them.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing...and for stopping by my blog.
I don't keep books I haven't liked. Otherwise, I keep everything I read! When we moved house several years ago, we needed a second moving van because I had so many books that the first van was weighted down too much. My husband still reminds me of that fact, periodically!
ReplyDelete2 Kids and Tired Books BTT
You probably know from my blog what my family do with books we don't want/need any longer - we sell them at the annual book market of our town. Even if we get just 50 Cents for a book, it's still better than throwing them out!
ReplyDeleteAs for being a Reader myself, I have always been surrounded by other readers, such as my Mum and my sister, not to mention my Mother-in-law who keeps supplying me with English paperbacks.
My boyfriend RJ does not read other than what he needs to read for work, but he loves me reading to him.
"Have you read all of them?" seems to be a common question from non-readers. We used to get that sometimes from folk (usually tradesmen helping sort out problems) when they saw our bookselves. We didn't tell them there were even more books in rooms they hadn't seen!
ReplyDeleteLike you, my social life is not what it was but those I do still have contact with are readers. The only person I know who reads celebrity magazines (I suppose similar to fashion) but ahe is also a book reader and never happier than when out in the sunshine in the garden or countryside with a book on her knee. Oddly we rarely discuss them because we don't want to act as a spoiler if it is one we recommend the other reads.
The first few years we were married I read a book a day, and some of them big like the Tolkien series. I don't know how I did it now, with a baby. But I sure got a lot of learning in and it was fun!!
ReplyDeleteI wasn't really going to comment on this post until I read what the removal man said about getting rid of books. So far as I know I only have one friend who is both a voracious reader and and a person who does not have a single book in the house. She once asked me why I devoted an entire wall of my living room to bookcases when I could have a nice clear wall with some pictures on it. [The comment was made in the context of the fact that I have far more pictures than I have room to hang them so rotate some of them.] It seemed pointless to tell her that not only did I love the books as though they were pictures but that many were reference books I use constantly.
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